


The Brother's Keeper

by Kari_Kurofai



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Gen, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-05
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2017-12-22 12:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/913159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kari_Kurofai/pseuds/Kari_Kurofai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yellowfang sneered, “We’ve won one battle, Jayfeather, but the war is endless.” Her whiskers twitched, amusement glittering in her eyes as Jayfeather stared at her. “The Three will not live forever, but if you don’t do something about it, Tigerstar’s blood will run through the clans until the stars die out.”</p><p>For a long moment Jayfeather stared after her, neither able to follow or spit out another retort. The silence she left in her wake was deafening, and with no other sounds to break it, no real life breath of the forest of starlight, it sent a sharp, harsh shudder through his frame. And while he’d never admit it aloud, her words stung. The fear that she might be right, that small and trembling dread was like a thorn in the back of his mind.</p><p>Post Last Hope</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah yeah, I know. Of all fandoms to suddenly return to this one really should have been last on the list. But this fic has been in the works since I finished Last Hope over a year ago and it won't fucking leave me alone until I write it. If I ever finish it, it'll be novel length and then some so apologies in advance.

_We are not only our brother's keeper; in countless large and small ways, we are our brother's maker._

_-Bonaro Overstreet_

_The clans will survive beyond the memories of his memories. This is how it has always been and how it always will be._

_\- Warriors: The Last Hope_

An old, grizzled gray she-cat padded her way up to the edge of a pool of water. She ground her claws into the dirt impatiently, digging them into the earth as she waited. There were no stars reflected there, and when she glanced down into its depths she was unsurprised to see a vast expanse of trees and lakeshore spanning out beneath the ripples. 

“What do you want?” a tense voice asked, and the she-cat jerked he gaze upwards, eyes narrowing and flaxen teeth baring in contempt. 

“You took your sweet time,” she hissed, unwilling to hide her scorn for the tabby-gray tom standing before her. 

His blue eyes flashed in annoyance. “I don’t answer to you,” he spat.

“You should. Isn’t it still taught that kits should respect their elders?” she snorted. The tom growled, and she casually licked her paw as if his words and actions bored her. “You know what I’ve asked you here for, Jayfeather.”

Jayfeather stiffened, “I do. And you should know my answer, Yellowfang.”

Yellowfang sniffed, “Foolish as ever, I see.”

He snarled, “I will not murder kits for your selfish delusions!”

With a patronizing hiss, Yellowfang paced towards him, her tail lashing, “They are not delusions, you mouse-brain! And you know that as well as I. His blood is poison, like his father’s before him! His kits will be much of the same, and if you doubt it you really are a fool.”

Jayfeather tilted his chin up, gaze hard and unwavering, “Then I am a fool,” he stated. “If there was anything to worry about with Bramblestar’s kits, Yellowfang, Firestar would have come and told me himself. Not you. Not when I stopped listening to your venom-dipped words seasons ago.”

Yellowfang leapt at him, stumbling slightly when Jayfeather dodged her with ease. “Firestar isn’t here!” she shrieked, “Don’t you know that by now? Five seasons and he hasn’t once shown his face to you!”

Jayfeather flinched back, though whether from her words or her well-aimed strike towards his ears he didn’t know. “You’re lying,” he said through gritted teeth. “Firestar is dead, he wouldn’t be anywhere else but here.”

“And yet no one has seen whisker nor tail of him since the battle with the Place Of No Stars, have they,” Yellowfang sneered. “Get rid of the kits, Jayfeather.”

Jayfeather crouched low as she lashed out again, narrowly missing his shoulder, “They’ve only just been born, barely begun to breathe! You’re insane!”

“So now’s the perfect time to get rid of them. Destroy them before they ever open their eyes to the light of day.”

A horrified hiss escaped Jayfeather, “And will you have other medicine cats do the same for Tigerheart’s kits? Dawnpelt’s? You’re mad.”

Yellowfang straightened, “You’re the mad one here. Do you want him to return? After we’ve only just rid ourselves of him? We’ve won one battle, Jayfeather, but the war is endless.” Her whiskers twitched, amusement glittering in her eyes as Jayfeather stared at her. “The Three will not live forever, but if you don’t do something about it, Tigerstar’s blood will run through the clans until the stars die out.”

Jayfeather shook his head, “And Bramblestar? He’s leader of Thunderclan now, you old hairball. Do you mistrust him too? What’s to say his children won’t be as great of warriors as he is?”

“Oh, they will be great warriors,” Yellowfang cooed, “but for what cause? Let them live, Jayfeather, and you will see that I am right.” She turned her back to him then, padding off into the undergrowth and vanishing back into the night.

For a long moment Jayfeather stared after her, neither able to follow or spit out another retort. The silence she left in her wake was deafening, and with no other sounds to break it, no real life breath of the forest of starlight, it sent a sharp, harsh shudder through his frame. And while he’d never admit it aloud, her words stung. The fear that she might be right, that small and trembling dread was like a thorn in the back of his mind.

“Yellowfang is wrong,” a voice murmured near his ear.

Jayfeather jumped, startled to be caught off guard in a place where he had all his senses. It took him a moment to recognize the speaker, startled by his sleek, content appearance that had been sorely lacking the last time they’d met. Blue eyes as bright as the water he’d met his doom in met Jayfeather’s, and a flash of lingering guilt forced the Thunderclan medicine cat’s gaze down. “Flametail,” he whispered.

Flametail nodded to him, tail flicking over Jayfeather’s shoulder. “Walk with me,” he said. Though Jayfeather was well aware that he could do as he pleased and go as he liked in Starclan’s territories despite what he was told, he followed Flametail without hesitation, drawn to the way the former Shadowclan cat’s words sounded more like an order than a request. “You’ve never dreamed, have you, Jayfeather.” Jayfeather gestured with his tail at the world around them and Flametail shook his head. “No, this isn’t a dream. Dreams are out of your control, you come into our territory with intent. This is very far from a true dream.”

They were on the edge of the lake now, just a tail length away from the water lapping at their paws. Jayfeather swallowed. “Then no, I’ve never dreamed.”

“Yet prophecies are most often delivered via dream, are they not?” Flametail continued. He stepped towards  the water as he spoke, and to Jayfeather’s shock his paws did not splash into the shallows but rather fell steadily upon the surface as if it was solid. “How do you warn your clanmates if you don’t dream?” His tail crooked, motioning for the other cat to follow.

Carefully, Jayfeather padded forward, placing one paw up onto the water. It did not sink, though when Jayeather lifted it again droplets dripped off his pad. Step by step, he followed Flametail out across the surface until they stood near the center, the four territories visible and spanning out on all sides. “You can not steal dreams forever, Jayfeather,” Flametail said, “A carefully trained mind can divert and deny you, can it not?” Jayfeather shrugged, avoiding Flametail's questioning eyes. “So then let me give you this dream, or as close to a dream as you can experience. Look.” He nodded his head towards the horizon where the sun was just beginning to rise and cast its crimson glow across the lake. 

Jayfeather followed his gaze for a heartbeat, though his attention was quickly distracted by the dark red light seeping into the water and rapidly stretching towards them. “It’s like blood,” he said, hushed. 

Flametail cocked his head, “Will you not step towards this blood-drenched dawn, Jayfeather?” His words were oddly cold and distant, enough so that Jayfeather immediately turned to stare at him, rooted to the spot by his tone. 

“What does that mean?”

“Will you not step towards this blood-drenched dawn?” Flametail repeated.

A shudder rippled though Jayfeather’s body. “I . . . No.”

“Hmm,” Flametail hummed. “Is that so. If you don’t, I fear it will surely rise up and meet you instead.” He looked towards the sunrise again, “Face it Jayfeather.”

Still, Jayfeather refused, directing his gaze down as the red seeped closer and closer. “No.” The water rippled underpaw, and Jayfeather had only a split second to suck in a breath before plummeting into its depths as it once more became liquid beneath him. Scarlet waves crashed over his head as he sank, and he struggled for a heartbeat, uselessly, hopelessly, every instinct in him begging for him to open his mouth and scream. All the while, Flametail watched him sink from where he still stood on the surface.

He awoke with a gasp on his lips and the taste of blood and water on his tongue.


	2. Allegiances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't going to make this stupid thing considering I myself NEVER read it in the novels but I was having a really hard time keeping track of shit without one so whatever here it is

**Allegiances**

**Thunderclan**

**Leader**   _ **Bramblestar**_ **-** dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

 **Deputy** _**Squirrelflight** _**-** dark ginger she-cat with green eyes

 **Medicine Cat**   _ **Jayfeather**_ **-** gray tabby tom with blind blue eyes

_**Apprentice, Firepaw** _

**Warriors** (toms and she-cats without kits)

 _ **Lionblaze**_ **-** golden tabby tom with amber eyes

_**Apprentice, Tigerpaw** _

_**Brakenfur -**_ golden brown tabby tom

 _ **Thornclaw**_ **-** large golden tabby tom

 _ **Cloudtail -**_ long haired white tom with blue eyes

 _ **Sandstorm -**_ pale ginger she-cat with green eyes

 _ **Brightheart -**_ white she-cat with ginger patches

 _ **Leafpool -**_ light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes, former medicine cat

 _ **Birchfall -**_ light brown tabby tom

 _ **Whitewing -**_ white she-cat with green eyes

 _ **Berrynose -**_ cream colored tom

 _ **Mousewhisker -**_ gray and white tom

 _ **Bumblestripe -**_ very pale gray tom with black stripes

 _ **Cinderheart -**_ gray tabby she-cat

_**Apprentice, Eaglepaw** _

_**Foxleap -**_ reddish tabby tom

 _ **Toadstep -**_ black and white tom

 _ **Rosepetal -**_ dark cream she-cat

 _ **Dovewing -** _ pale gray she-cat with blue eyes

 _ **Ivypool -** _ silver and white tabby she-cat with  dark blue eyes

**Apprentice, Falconpaw**

 _ **Moletail -**_ brown and cream tom

 _ **Lilypatch -**_ dark tabby she-cat with white patches

 _ **Seedsprout -**_ very pale ginger she-cat

 _ **Dewflicker**_  - gray tom with amber eyes

 _ **Ambermist**_ \- gray she-cat with white paws, white muzzle, white right ear, and amber eyes

 _ **Snowdash**_ \- white tom with amber eyes

**Apprentices** (more than six moons old, in training to become warriors)

 _ **Firepaw -** _ ginger tom with a flame colored pelt and amber eyes

 _ **Tigerpaw -**_ broad shouldered dark brown tabby tom with green eyes

 _ **Eaglepaw -**_ dark brown tabby tom with blue eyes

 _ **Falconpaw -** _ pale gray tom with light brown underbelly and amber eyes

**Queens** (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

 _ **Blossomfall -**_ tortoiseshell and white she-cat

 _ **Cherryleaf -** _ ginger she-cat

 _ **Icecloud -**_ white she-cat (mother to Smokekit, a cloudy grey tom, and Thrushkit, a pale brown and white tom)

 **Elders** (former warriors and queens, now retired)

 _ **Dustpelt -**_ dark brown tabby tom

 _ **Daisy -**_ cream long furred cat from the horseplace

 _ **Graystripe -**_ long haired gray tom

 _ **Briarlight -**_ dark brown she-cat

**Shadowclan**

**Leader**   _ **Blackstar -**_ large white tom with jetblack forepaws

 **Deputy** _**Tawnypelt -**_ tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes

_**Apprentice, Dogpaw** _

**Medicine Cat**   _ **Darkfire -**_ dark ginger she-cat with brown eyes

 **Warriors** (toms and she-cats without kits)

 _ **Smokefoot -**_ black tom

 _ **Applefur -**_ mottled brown she-cat

_**Apprentice, Sharppaw** _

_**Crowfrost -** _ black and white tom

 _ **Olivenose -**_ tortoiseshell she-cat

 _ **Owlclaw -** _ light brown tabby tom

 _ **Scorchfur -**_ dark gray tom

 _ **Dawnpelt -**_ cream furred she-cat

 _ **Ferretclaw -**_ cream and gray tom

 _ **Ivytail -**_ black, white, and tortoiseshell she-cat

 _ **Treefall -**_ brown tom

 _ **Aspenspeckle -**_ white and gray spotted she-cat

**Apprentices** (more than six moons old, in training to become warriors)

 _ **Dogpaw -**_ golden brown tom

 _ **Sharppaw -**_ silver-gray she-cat

 **Queens** (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

 _ **Pinenose -** _ black she-cat

 **Elders** (former warriors and queens, now retired)

 _ **Littlecloud -**_ very small tabby tom

_**Oakfur -**_ small brown tom

 _ **Kinkfur -** _ tabby she-cat with long fur that sticks out at all angles

**Windclan**

**Leader**   _ **Onestar -**_ brown tabby tom

 **Deputy** _**Sunstrike -**_ tortoiseshell she-cat with large white mark on her forehead

 **Medicine Cat**   _ **Kestrelflight -**_ mottled brown and gray tom

 **Warriors** (toms and she-cats without kits)

 _ **Crowfeather -**_ dark gray tom

 _ **Owlwhisker -**_ light brown tabby tom

_**Apprentice, Sparrowpaw** _

_**Whiskernose -**_ light brown tom

_**Weaselfur -**_ ginger tom with white paws

 _ **Leaftail -**_ dark tabby tom with amber eyes

 _ **Emberfoot -**_ gray tom with two dark paws

_**Apprentice, Pantherpaw** _

_**Boulderfur -**_ large pale grey tom

 _ **Sedgewhisker -**_ light brown tabby she-cat

 _ **Earthroot -**_ brown tabby tom with grey stripes

 _ **Bloompetal -**_ rosy furred she-cat

**Apprentices** (more than six moons old, in training to become warriors)

 _ **Sparrowpaw -**_ brown and white she-cat

 _ **Pantherpaw -**_ black tom with faint darker spots

**Queens** (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

 _ **Heathertail -**_ light brown tabby she-cat with blue eyes

 **Elders** (former warriors and queens, now retired)

 _ **Ashfoot -**_ gray she-cat

 _ **Whitetail -**_ small white she-cat

**Riverclan**

**Leader**   _ **Mistystar -**_ gray she-cat with blue eyes

 **Deputy**   _ **Reedwhisker -**_ black tom

 **Medicine Cat**   _ **Willowshine -**_ gray tabby she-cat

 **Warriors** (toms and she-cats without kits)

 _ **Hollowheart -**_ dark brown tabby tom

 _ **Troutsplash -**_ pale gray tabby she-cat

 _ **Mintfur -**_ light gray tabby tom

_**Apprentice, Flickerpaw** _

_**Minnowtail -**_ dark gray she-cat

_**Apprentice, Newtpaw** _

_**Mossypelt -**_ brown and white she-cat

 _ **Rushstep -**_ light brown tabby tom

 _ **Robinwing -**_ tortoiseshell and white tom

_**Apprentice, Stonepaw** _

_**Duskfur -**_ brown tabby she-cat

_**Tatteredear -**_ mottled white and grey tom with one torn ear

 _ **Redwater -**_ ginger tom

 **Apprentices** (more than six moons old, in training to become warriors)

 _ **Stonepaw -** _ gray tom

 _ **Newtpaw -**_ tortoiseshell tom

 _ **Flickerpaw -** _ gold tabby she-cat

**Queens** (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

 _ **Petalfur -** _ gray and white she-cat 

**Elders** (former warriors and queens, now retired)

 _ **Mothwing -** _ dappled golden she-cat

 _ **Pouncetail -**_ ginger and white tom

**Cats Outside The Clans**

_**Floss -** _ small gray and white she-cat who lives in horseplace

 _ **Popcorn -**_ White and gold tom who lives in horseplace

 _ **Breezepelt -**_ black tom with amber eyes and shredded ears

 _ **Nightcloud -**_ black she-cat

 _ **Spottedkit -**_ orange and brown tortoiseshell she-cat

 _ **Tigerheart -** _ dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All questions, comments, and concerns about certain cats being listed under certain clans/categories will be answered within the fic eventually


	3. Chapter 1

Eaglepaw skidded down the slope of freshly fallen snow, white flurries flying out in small waves behind him. A low stone reared up from the blanket of white ahead. He leapt into the air a tail length before he could crash into it and went sailing right over, paws splaying as he landed and continued his slick slide down the hill, a whoop of glee escaping him.

Shortly behind, his brother Falconpaw came slipping down. His stance wasn’t nearly as steady as Eaglepaw’s, and he wobbled dangerously as he landed hard on the other side of the rock. “You’re going to get us killed this time, you mouse-brain!” he yowled, voice wavering as he nearly fell face first into the powder.

An amused purr rumbled in Eaglepaw’s chest. “You didn’t have to follow, you know. You could have stayed nice and warm in camp like everyone else.” The light of dawn was just beginning to reflect its gold and pink hues across the freshly fallen snow, and Eaglepaw took delight in gliding right over the rays that trickled in between the bare tree branches, leaving long tracks through the briefly pristine sight.

“You’re right,” Falconpaw growled as he narrowly avoided a tree. “I could still be asleep right now! But no, I had to follow my idiot brother out here so that he wouldn’t end up dead.”

The hill began to even out, flattening into the rest of the earth, and Eaglepaw slowly came to a halt at it’s base. “I’d have been perfectly fine, you know,” he mewed confidently whilst starting to turn around to watch his brother’s progress. “I’m nearly a warrior now, so-”

All further boasting was cut off as Falconpaw collided with him at full speed and sent them both head over heels into a drift of snow. Sputtering, Eaglepaw managed to spring to his feet again in a matter of seconds, whiskers twitching as he attempted to shake persistent flakes from the tips. “You nearly bundled us into Windclan territory!” he spat.

Falconpaw tilted his head and flicked his ears towards the border, which was still quite a few fox-lengths away. “Hardly,” he scoffed.

Eaglepaw rolled his eyes and turned back to face the depths of Thunderclan territory again. Nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t just been mowed over by his brother, he licked a paw and swiped it over his ear to dislodge a few more bits of melting snow. “Even if we had fallen over the border, I could have taken them.”

“Taken who? All of Windclan?” Falconpaw chuckled.

“Yes.”

“One apprentice against an entire clan?”

Eaglepaw puffed out his chest, his brown fur now free of sticky snow and his blue eyes shining with determination. “One very brave apprentice,” he corrected haughtily. “I’m the strongest apprentice, the best hunter, the-”

“-only apprentice besides myself,” Falconpaw finished. “It’s not that hard to be all of those things when you’re only one of two. Although I have to say, I’m probably the smartest apprentice. And the fastest. And the best at strategy. And-”

“Well I’m the best at listening,” Eaglepaw interrupted, unwilling to let Falconpaw show him up.

“You’re average at listening.” Falconpaw sniffed, “Nothing like our mother.”

“Obviously not,” Eaglepaw agreed. “But I’m a close second-”

“I don’t think-”

Eaglepaw silenced him with a tail over his brother’s nose. “Hush. See, right now I hear something.”

“My stomach grumbling?” Falconpaw deadpanned. “Because in your rush to play in the snow like a crow we didn’t eat anything before we left.”

“No. More like . . .” He drew off, his eyes narrowing as his gaze flickered over the snow-covered forest ahead. “More like kits flailing their way through their first winter. Outside of the camp.” He bounded off, streaking across the ground as he raced round the side of the hill they’d only just come over towards the source of the sound.

Falconpaw quickly took off after him, sighing. “What is this, the third time this moon? They won’t learn until they get eaten by a badger.” He paused. “Which means we better save their tails before they get eaten by a badger.”

“Bramblestar would kill us!” Eaglepaw gasped at the very thought. “Hurry!” If this was the first time it had occurred, Eaglepaw might take pride in saving some hare-brained kits. As it was the third, and for that matter the third in the span of a pawful of sunrises, his only feeling was sheer annoyance. “You’d think they’d have learned after Bramblestar delayed their apprenticeship for a quarter moon, but no!”

Hot on his heels, Falconpaw called back, “It would be better if they’d been apprenticed. Then at least they’d have a mentor breathing down their neck fur and keeping their noses out of trouble!”

They barreled towards the treeline, a flurry of paw prints left behind in their wake. The last time this particular pair of kits had conducted their misadventures outside of the camp every warrior and apprentice had received a lecture about vigilance and looking out for cats that could not protect themselves. It was quite ridiculous to say the least, but no one argued. Bramblestar had the right to be overprotective of his kits. Some of the elders had even found it amusing. Despite this, Eaglepaw had no desire to repeat any of that. And if they returned the wayward kits to their father unharmed, proving that the aforementioned lecture had been effective, they might be able to avoid it.

Rounding a broad oak trunk, Falconpaw put on an extra burst of speed, passing his brother and skidding to a halt with a wake of snow thrown up from the abrupt stop. Eaglepaw nearly tripped over himself in order not to crash into his sibling. “Don’t just pull up short like that!” he spat, peering over Falconpaw’s shoulder. Any further reprimands were cut short as he spotted the kits. “Oh, for Starclan’s sake.”

The pair, a rather small but lithe ginger tom and a broad shouldered brown tabby tom, were perched precariously on a stone in the middle of stream dividing Thunderclan from Windclan territory. Though the water was mostly iced over this late in leaf-bare, there were some significant cracks marking out the path they must have taken from the shore to the rock. It was only a matter of seconds before one of them, the tabby, spotted the apprentices and let out a distressed wail. “We’re stuck!”

“I hate them so much,” Eaglepaw muttered as he moved around his brother to approach the stream bank. “If I die for them, I’m going to haunt their dreams for all of eternity.”

Falconpaw let out an amused huff and followed. Once they were closer, he could see that the smaller of the two kits was crouched on the stone, wide-eyed and shivering in the leaf-bare wind. He was calmer than his littermate, but only in the sense that he wasn’t as vocal. “Firekit,” Falconpaw mewed to him. “Are you injured at all?” Firekit shook his head stiffly, but gave no verbal reply. Falconpaw sighed and glanced to Eaglepaw, “It’ll be difficult to get him off the rock. See the way he’s attempting to dig his claws into its surface?”

Eaglepaw nodded. “With that level of sense, you’d think that one of these days he’d talk some of it into his brother and dissuade them from these escapades before they start.” He turned his attention to the other kit. “Tigerkit, get Firekit on his feet for me, alright? And I’ll come get you.”

Tigerkit gaped at them from his perch. “You’ll fall in!”

“I’ll be fine,” Eaglepaw assured. “Get Firekit standing.”

As he spoke he began to test the ice along the shore with his paws, working his way upstream from where the kits had already created a spider web of cracks. “Be careful,” Falconpaw pleaded as his brother discovered a fairly solid area a few tail lengths away.

Eaglepaw flicked Falconpaw’s nose with his tail, “Don’t worry. Now go back towards the stone so I can toss them to you if worse comes to worse.”

“You really shouldn’t say ‘Don’t worry,’ and then ‘If worse comes to worse’ in the same breath,” Falconpaw joked nervously, bounding back downstream to do as he was told.

Normally, Eaglepaw could have crossed the distance between his place on the shore and the rock on which the trembling kits sat in just a few bounds. But despite them needing the aid of time on their side, he couldn’t risk it with the ice as brittle as it was. “Stupid kits,” he scolded as he carefully placed one paw after the other on the cold surface. “Didn’t you just get punished for stunts like this a few sunrises ago?”

“We wanted to prove we were ready to be apprentices!” Tigerkit snapped back almost immediately. “We were going to invade the Windclan camp!”

“You wanted to risk the good terms we currently hold with Windclan in order to prove a point?” An ominous crack echoed under one of his paws, and Eaglepaw scrambled to readjust them and gain a more solid footing. “What will your father say when he hears that?”

Tigerkit puffed up his already fear-bristled fur a little more. “Clans are supposed to fight!”

“Clans are supposed to coexist,” Eaglepaw corrected. He was within a pawswipe of the kits now, but to his horror he realized it was the ice directly around the rock that was the frailest. It seemed like the entire stream was creaking under his weight now. He looked up again, meeting Firekit’s eyes. “I can’t go any further, but you’re small. The ice should hold you. Walk towards me and I’ll toss you to Falconpaw.” Firekit swallowed, glancing between his brother and Eaglepaw. “Firekit!” Eaglepaw snapped. The sharp exclamation of his name seemed to spur the little kit into action, and he shuffled to the edge of the rock and stepped off, the ice sending out crackling tendrils from beneath his paws from the moment they made contact. “Good! Good.” Eaglepaw beckoned the kit with a crook of his tail. “Now come towards me. Slowly. Yes, just like that. Fantastic.”

Eaglepaw leaned forward as Firekit came within reach, grasping onto the kit’s scruff with his teeth. At six moons old he was hardly a kit anymore, and much heavier than anticipated. With a grunt, Eaglepaw was able to hurl him towards the shore. He fell short, and as the ice broke underneath him it was only through Falconpaw’s quick reaction that saved him. The kit’s hindquarters dipped into the water at the same moment Falconpaw caught him by the scruff and hauled him to safety.

As relieved as Eaglepaw was that Firekit had made it safely, his disastrous landing had caused the rest of the ice to begin to shudder and break. “Tigerkit!” Eaglepaw yowled urgently. “Come here, now!”

Tigerkit needed no further urging, and with a leap was at Eaglepaw’s side, scrabbling at the rapidly cracking ice. Eaglepaw clamped his teeth around the kit’s tail, ignoring the sharp cry of protest, and swung him round, sending him sliding into the shore where Falconpaw pulled him up onto solid ground not a second too soon.

The ice giving one last whine beneath his paws was the only warning Eaglepaw got before he was plunged into cold and rushing darkness.

“Eaglepaw!” Falconpaw shrieked as his brother disappeared into water. A swift, “Don’t move!” was all he uttered to the shocked kits before he took off down the bank, keeping pace with the current as Eaglepaw’s head resurfaced further down. Up ahead he could see that the ice was still solid, and his heart sank into his stomach. If Eaglepaw got sucked under there, it would be too late.

“Eaglepaw!” he shouted again. Every muscle in his body strained to get ahead, to race the river and reach the jut of ice before his brother. If he could do that, maybe . . . Just maybe. Eaglepaw’s paws flailed in the current, his head barely above water as he coughed and spat, struggling madly to reach the shore in time.

He was too close. Too close to the ice. Too close to . . .

Falconpaw bunched himself up mid stride and flung himself onto the ice, less than a heartbeat before Eaglepaw reached it. He thrust his head into the water, teeth snagging into the mass of fur and pulling. To his relief, Eaglepaw emerged, kicking and gagging as his brother tore him from his icy grave by the fur just above his shoulder. As soon as his whole body was above water, Falconpaw shoved them both off the ice and onto the bank, his chest heaving as he tried to regain his breath. “You stupid, mouse-brained furball!” he hissed between breaths. “Don’t you dare do that ever again!”

Eaglepaw coughed and a splash of water forced its way out of his mouth and onto the snow. “S-sorry.”

The kits, disobeying orders as per usual, had followed, and now stood a tail-length away with wide eyes. “Come here,” Falconpaw growled, pleased when the pair flinched and approached. “Start rubbing his fur to warm him up. Don’t lick,” he added. “Just rub. It’ll help to dry him off too.”

“W-where are you g-going?” Eaglepaw’s teeth were already chattering, and Falconpaw took a moment to cast him a worried glance before turning away. 

“To get help from the camp. Don’t move. Any of you.” He shot a stern, cold stare at the kits, who wouldn’t meet his eyes, before taking off into the depths of Thunderclan territory.

Eaglepaw watched him go with glazed eyes. He hardly noticed the kits settling down beside him to ruffle sheathed paws up and down his sides. “Grumpy goose,” he murmured. “As if he wouldn’t have done the exact same thing.” Slowly, he shifted his attention to the too-quiet kits. “So what do you think Bramblestar is going to do to you for this little adventure?”

“Kill us,” Tigerkit whispered mournfully, completely serious. Firekit nodded in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All will become clear. Eventually.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally characters that we all know and love

Jayfeather never understood why it was that the she-cats of the clan were so keen on leaving their kits in his care while they nipped out for a bit of hunting now and then. In the first place, he’d willingly chosen a life of celibacy and thus had never and would never be in charge of his own litter, which should have been a clear indicator that he had no idea what he was doing. And in the second, he was blind. Yes, he hated having that fact used in a manner which restricted what he could and couldn’t do for his clan, but in the case of kit-sitting, it really should have been obvious he was not cut out for it. Sharp hearing or not, if a kit put their mind to it they could easily sneak off. Which was exactly what happened the second Jayfeather had ducked into his den to see to a bad scrape on one of Snowdash’s paws. Apparently the words “Stay right there and don’t move” meant absolutely nothing to rebellious kittens.

“I don’t know why you’re surprised,” Snowdash mewed as Jayfeather pressed his forehead against the wall of his den and seriously contemplated bashing his own brains in. It would be a lot less tedious and painful than Bramblestar’s lecture would be at least. “They do this every time any cat turns their back.”

“Yes,” Jayfeather acknowledged, “But I had vainly hoped they’d at least pay a bit more respect to their medicine cat.” He sighed and lifted his head, flicking his tail in Snowdash’s direction. “Come on then, we’d better go.”

“Go where?” Snowdash asked.

Jayfeather turned towards the other cat’s voice. “Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic like your father, or if I should be genuinely worried about the state of your mind. Like your father.” He didn’t bother to pause for Snowdash to form a retort. “And as you’re already here, you might as well help me find them.” He leaned forward until he could feel Snowdash’s hitched breath on his whiskers, “And if you don’t, I’ll tell Bramblestar they ran off on your watch.”

Snowdash flinched and held up a paw that was still slick with poultice, “But-”

“Every other cat that can be spared is off on a patrol except for you,” Jayfeather snapped. “No buts. Let’s go.”

To his credit, Snowdash was by far the fastest cat in the clan, injured paw or not, and he crossed the camp with a few swift leaps and bounds to beat Jayfeather to the thorn tunnel. “I don’t see why it’s such a big deal,” he huffed when Jayfeather caught up. “Kits are kits and it would just be better all around if we let them learn from their mistakes.”

“Mmm,” Jayfeather murmured as they padded out into the forest beyond, “I suppose so. Of course if that’s how things worked then I wouldn’t be here talking to you right now, and would instead be happily resting in the belly of a fox cub.” He crooked his tail, ignoring the wave of alarm that flashed through Snowdash’s pelt at the very thought. “Kits do learn from their mistakes,” Jayfeather said, the syllables making their way out of him in little puffs as he picked his way between the trees. “It’s just best that they do so while still being, you know, alive.”

Snowdash inhaled sharply, “Surely they couldn’t have gotten up to something so horrendous!”

“I got up to many horrendous things before I was apprenticed,” Jayfeather said. “And that was without my sight. I dread to think of what kits with their eyes in working order could get up to.” He slowed a bit as Snowdash darted ahead of him, suddenly more alert and attentive as he scanned the area for sight or scent of the missing kits. 

Despite his outward indifference towards the young warrior, Jayfeather was not beyond admitting his fondness for him, even if its just to himself. After all, it was Snowdash who had approached him before his apprenticing and asked to be a medicine cat instead. Jayfeather had considered it, keen to take on an eager apprentice instead of the hesitant ones that Bramblestar kept suggesting for him. Snowdash would have been a wonderful student, air-headed tendencies aside, and Jayfeather nearly took him up on the offer. Nearly. Though Snowdash had been sincere in his pleas to become the medicine cat’s apprentice, Jayfeather quickly discovered that that wasn’t all there was to it. “I’m different,” Snowdash had told him when Jayfeather had questioned his desire towards the position. “So I probably shouldn’t be a warrior.”

Honestly, Jayfeather still had no idea what that meant. He had inklings, little clues here and there picked up through Snowdash’s discomfort around some of his fellow warriors, and the way he feigned thorns in his paw to avoid patrols. But pieces hardly make a whole, and Jayfeather has recently preferred to let cats keep their secrets. 

He hasn’t regretted the decision to push Snowdash to be a warrior, not once. Snowdash wasn’t kitted with the taste of the stars on his tongue, and how could he ask such a thing of any cat who was not born with a want of it? How could he have requested that Snowdash, whose fleet-pawed skills had sprouted so early, instead join him in a life of mundane and dull tasks?

Jayfeather loved his work, he really did, but it was unarguably an acquired taste. For when he was here, out in the woods with the wind ticking along his spine and the feel the earth beneath his pads that was yet to be worn soft by time, he still longed for the choice that was never given to him. He yearned for it, craved it, the taste of battle blood across his teeth, never to be realized because he wasn’t enough. There was no specific trait that Jayfeather could blame, not really, not when his ears were just as good as any sight he lacked. Instead, it was more like there was a flaw in his being, his makeup that made it so the path of a warrior would be forever out of paw’s reach. 

So he dared not deny any other cat the opportunity. All kits were born with warrior blood in their veins, their claws unsheathed and their teeth bared to fight from the minute they took their first breaths into the world. It wasn’t fair of him to take that from them. They must come to him on their own.

Though that hardly means he shouldn’t regret missed opportunities. 

“You might want to remember that I’m not quite as young as you,” Jayfeather called in the direction he can hear Snowdash’s retreating pawsteps. “And that I’m blind.”

There was a pause, and Jayfeather sighed as Snowdash hopped back to his side again. “You’re not that old,” Snowdash said. “You’re not much older than Foxleap, and he’s one of the youngest warriors in the clan.”

Jayfeather turned his sightless gaze towards the other tom, “For some cat who was too injured by the thorn in his paw to finish his patrol, you sure are bouncy this morning.” Immediately, Snowdash stopped moving to the point where Jayfeather nearly crashed right into him. “Oh for-” Jayfeather sputtered, “I’d rather you be an over-active nuisance than acting like a literal stick in the mud. Move your tail.” He shoved at Snowdash and rolled his eyes when the warrior let out a surprised meow and stumbled. “Look, if you want to skip patrols, I honestly don’t care. But at least find some other way to make yourself useful, such as helping find lost kits.”

Snowdash’s fur fluffed up a bit at the accusation. “I’m not skipping on purpose, I-”

“Of course not,” Jayfeather interrupted. “No cat is brainless enough to step on thorns on purpose. But you certainly made no effort to fix the matter yourself, did you. The thing was barely in your pad, even the frailest of elders could have removed it and cared for the cut, but you came all the way back to camp to have me deal with it.” He leveled Snowdash with a frown, “So, as I said, I hardly care if you do it, just as I don’t care about your reasoning for it, I merely request you try not to act like a bumbling idiot while you find other ways in which to serve your clan.”

As Jayfeather knew this would hardly be the last time Snowdash found a convenient escape from a patrol, Jayfeather saw no harm in scolding him. Whatever kept Snowdash from wandering the forest was not a new occurrence. Jayfeather’s tail flicked with irritation at the thought that Snowdash was turning into a lazy warrior. At the same time, however, the way that he ran ahead now, soft thrills of excitement in his throat as he bounded through the snow, such claims fell short. “You could talk to me about it, you know,” Jayfeather offered. 

Snowdash paused his steps, and Jayfeather could feel the warrior’s eyes on him. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

It was best, Jayfeather decided then and there, not to bring it up again. At least not for awhile. A walker of dreams or not, he’d long learned that it was better to let his clanmates keep their privacy. As long as it wasn’t hurting anyone, that is. The clan was happy, they were fed, they were well, he had no need to try and take on the burdens of a score of cats all by himself. Still, it was a little frustrating to know he might be able to help if he were a younger, more egotistical cat. Powers gave him the means, but not the right, a lesson which Jayfeather was able to pride himself on only recently.

“Let me know when ‘nothing’ becomes ‘something,’ then,” Jayfeather mews.

The trail that wound past the Ancient Oak proved to be the easiest one in the winter-blanketed forest, and Snowdash helped Jayfeather navigate his way down the gentle decline of land into the sparser populations of trees near the water’s edge. “I can’t seem to pick up a scent,” Snowdash lamented after awhile. “And their tracks are so all over the place they’re hard to follow.”

Jayfeather snorted and flicked his ears towards a pathway between two trees, “They’d have gone this way, I assume. Away from the lakeshore again and towards the stream.”

“How do you know that?” Snowdash still had his nose at the surface of the snow, examining the paw prints from barely a whisker length away. “You can’t even see the prints.”

“Being blind doesn’t impair my sense of smell nor my wit in the slightest,” Jayfeather huffed. “They’re kits, Snowdash. They have fearless hearts, fire-bright ambitions, and have yet to comprehend that the whole world isn’t a game.”

Snowdash blinked, once, twice, and then let his jaw drop. “You don’t think-”

“That they think they can invade Windclan all on their own? Yes I do.”

A rising prickle of alarm was working its way through the air around Snowdash, and Jayfeather had no time to question it before the warrior blurted out, “But they’d have to cross the stream!”

“Starclan,” Jayfeather hissed between his teeth. “Right, lead the way towards the border. Hurry.”

Keeping up with Snowdash while trying to tear through the forest is harder than Jayfeather estimated. The snow doesn’t help matters at all. Just when he thought he’d found footing, the layer of white would slide out from under paw and send him skidding back a pace. He wanted to tell Snowdash to go on without him, frustrated by the fact that the warrior had to continuously and patiently dart back and forth to help him. Except he feared that one, or both of the kits might be hurt, or hypothermic, or half drowned, and Snowdash would be utterly useless to them if they were. In Jayfeather’s opinion it would always be a crying shame that warriors were not at least taught basic knowledge of the skills of a medicine cat. Starclan forbid he should ever trip and go careening down a too steep hill and depart this plane for good, his clan would literally die without him. 

At least he wasn’t entirely helpless. Every time Snowdash came to help him find his footing again Jayfeather was already back on his paws and sweeping aside the less than stable snow patches. “If I never see another leaf-bare again it will be too soon,” he muttered to himself.

“Hopefully you’ll see quite a few of them yet.” Snowdash had given up trying to forge ahead and was now instead allowing Jayfeather to lean against him as they plowed through the snow side by side. “The kits too, if we hurry.”

“I’m trying,” Jayfeather snapped.

As they made it to the top of the rise, Jayfeather strained his ears for a sign of the kits, and feels his heart stutter as he failed to detect one. They had to have come this way.

“Falconpaw!” Snowdash exclaimed suddenly, and Jayfeather turned towards the sound of the warrior’s voice. “Falconpaw is running up the hill towards us!”

“He’s in a panic,” Jayfeather said stiffly, sensing the wash of emotion even from this distance.

He turned again, this time towards the opposite side of the hill where he caught wind of another sound. “Some other cat is coming. I can’t tell-”

“Dovewing!” Snowdash called. “It’s Dovewing!”

Jayfeather’s felt every inch of him grow cold. Oh, Starclan no. Dovewing should have been with the patrol near the Shadowclan border. If she had raced across the entire territory to get here, something must be terribly wrong.

Both cats reached Snowdash and Jayfeather within the same breath, each of them heaving and trembling with a mixture of fear and exhaustion. It was Dovewing who spoke first. “Eaglepaw-,” she started, eyes wide.

“He fell in the stream,” Falconpaw interrupted. “He’s alright, I got him out. But he’s wet and cold and he needs help.”

Dovewing let out a relieved sigh, “Thank Starclan.”

Confused, Jayfeather flicked his tail towards her. “You couldn’t hear that he was fine?”

She ducked her head, “Not specifically. I could hear his heartbeat, I was only listening for his heartbeat when I heard him fall in. A beating heart only means a cat is alive, not that he is uninjured.” Dovewing moved forward to rub her cheek against Falconpaw’s, “Are you sure he’s alright? He didn’t cut himself on the ice or on a stone in the river or anything? Did he swallow water at all? What about bruises? Maybe he broke a bone or-”

“He’s fine,” Falconpaw purred, “I promise, he’s fine. He just needs to get somewhere dry and warm.” He glanced towards Snowdash, “Between the two of us we can probably carry him.”

Dovewing puffed out her fur a bit, “I can help to, you know, I carried the two of you for moons without aid.”

Falconpaw’s whiskers twitched with amusement, “We’re not kits anymore.”

“If you say ‘but you’ll always be my kits’ like an elderly queen so help me I will throw up,” Jayfeather snapped at Dovewing, who in turn flicked a pawful of snow in his direction. “Now let’s get a move on before the poor cat freezes to death. And I assume such stupidity as falling into the stream was caused by attempts to stop two mouse-brained kits from invading Windclan, correct?”

“I hope Bramblestar skins them this time,” Falconpaw grumbled in confirmation. “One of these days they’re going to get some cat killed.”

It had been moons now, over half a dozen, and still such joking statements about Bramblestar and Squirrelflight’s kits made something twist uncomfortably in Jayfeather’s gut. Of course it was nothing more than a jest, he knew that. He always knew that. He knew that cat’s bloodline did not determine their destiny.

But he knew all too well that the stars did, and Yellowfang’s warning still rang as sharp and clear in his ears as the night which she had spoken it.

“They won’t if they learn to stop being so selfish and thick-skulled,” Jayfeather sighed. Starclan, wouldn’t it be lovely if things were so easy. Maybe he’d just accidentally hit them both upside the head on the way back to camp and see if that knocked any sense into their brains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies as ever, I probably scrapped this chapter about twelve times before I was satisfied with it enough to post. Trying to settle on Snowdash's characterization and how I wanted to introduce the fact that Dovewing is Falconpaw and Eaglepaw's mother was difficult. I really love Snowdash though, like holy hell only a few K words with him so far and I adore writing him the most out of all the new generation cats. In case you didn't pick up on it, he's Cloudtail and Brightheart's son from the litter that was born during Last Hope. He probably has my favorite warrior name out of all the kits/apprentices from the series I had to choose the second parts of names for. There will be lots more discussions on his wayward habits in the future, because he's going to be a very plot important character.


End file.
